Video Sunday: Trailers and Credits

Not too long ago I got to thinking about that A Series of Unfortunate Events movie. It was a film that got its fair share of criticism and didn’t do particularly well box-office-wise. Yet in spite of all of that I enjoyed the movie quite a lot. I thought it had much to recommend it. And I think we can all agree that the title sequence at the end was worth the price of admission alone. It’s not the highest quality, but here it is for those of you who might have missed it the first time around.

Along the same vein, when I wrote my review for Snicket’s The Composer is Dead, I included various videos at the end of the piece, of assorted shapes and sizes. This video, however, has emerged since that review and I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit. If you take pleasure in a little Daniel Handler with your daily tea, I suggest risking at peek at this discussion of his latest picture book.

If I don’t miss my guess, it’s probably Harper Collins’s deepest desire that this book not be mistaken for a children’s novel. But I am sorry. When you populate your noir with stuffed animals, what else am I supposed to do but link to it here? Kudos to HC for this trailer anyway. Some serious work went into it. And those of you who suffer Mad Men flashbacks in the first minute are not alone.

Back to children’s literature, I’m a big big fan of this new retelling of Chicken Little. If you haven’t seen it already, I suggest that you do so promptly. This trailer says it for me, though. Plus you gotta love that public domain music.

As for today’s random video of the week, this short film was posted on Drawing Board where it was described as follows: "It reminds me of the worlds we build when we make fiction…or a new home…or any other act of creativity…."

Elizabeth Bird is currently New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collections Specialist. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of NYPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Comments

Fuse 8, Betsy,
THANK YOU for coming to the defense of the movie version of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Of the many adaptations we are suffering through these days which seem to completely miss the heart and the tone of a children’s book — i.e. the inclusion of a sweet devoted mother in the movie version of Tale of Despereaux (yikes!) or that film’s weird vegetable spirit (???) OR the ‘hip and wacky’ Horton of that animated misfire — I thought director Brad Silberling and crew actually GOT the gist and heart of Unfortunate Events just right. The art direction, the voice-over in silhouette, the casting — all right on the money. The child characters are fabulously acted/directed (vs. the stiff-then-cutesy kids of the Narnia movies

continued (sorry).
…of the Narnia movies(you can almost hear that director just off-screen coaching “Look really sad now..” Ugh.) Jim Carrey’s odd cameleonish talents are used FOR the movie vs. against it. The sound track is great, as are the credits you’ve shared. Sorry to ramble (and for the double entry — I’m new, I’ll use wordcount next time and hit submit only once.) Along with Lord of the Rings — A Series of Unfortunate Events is one of my all time favorite book-to-movies.

THANK you! I’ve been saying that for years. There were a couple choices in there that I would have changed. And I would have made the whole thing a little less sound-stagey. But in terms of the acting and script, it’s certainly above par. Good child actors too, I agree.

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About A Fuse #8 Production

Features everything from librarian previews of upcoming children's books to news, reviews, and videos. If it has something to do with children's literature, it will rate a mention here.

Betsy Bird is the Youth Materials Specialist of New York Public Library. She's reviewed for The New York Times and Kirkus, writes articles for Horn Book and SLJ, and wrote the picture book Giant Dance Party. You can contact her at Fusenumber8@gmail.com or follow her on . . .